Chillin' with Patsy: cloudy but still spring

The Ridge

The weirdest thing happened to me around 3 am on Sunday, Apr. 26^th. In slumber, I had been curled up on my side for an unknown amount of time, knees up in front of me and I wanted to stretch my legs and roll over. My left leg would straighten only so far and I could feel that it was almost as if my knee bone was locked into position. What the heck??

The day started like this

Whenever I have felt a ‘crick’ in my knee any other time, I have been able to ease it out. No problem. This morning, I was afraid to force it as it felt like I would be forcing a bone in a direction that it wasn’t supposed to go. It was quite painful. I gently twisted and turned, rubbed my knee and only after 3 or 4 different positions was I able to stretch my leg and feel relief. It wasn’t muscle, it was bone. Once relieved, I was able to move both ways, curled up and straight out and dozed off again.

Looking back from Baptist Church Rd, across North Line
to our humble home

At 6:30 I woke and decided to get up and have a shower. It felt warm in the Suite so I knew that the temperatures had remained above the freezing mark as we’d hoped. Downstairs, our gauge read 7C/46F. It was a cloudy morning and we sat and had our morning brews together while reading blogs. It crossed my mind that maybe I dreamt that my knee acted up. There was no indication of the pain now. Weird.

This is west on North Line across B.C.Rd
looking back towards home

Bill thought it might be a good idea to take Black Beauty to the Acreage to run some water over her for a semi-bath so he left around 9 to do that. We could get rain today but until it does, we will just play it by ear. It isn’t supposed to be a wash out. When my tea was done, I went for my walk, leaving a note for Bill should he return while I’m gone. I walked in the direction that he’d be coming anyway, towards the north but only went as far as the ‘dog’ house and turned around.

Chives

one itty bitty bunch of rhubarb

Poppies pushing up through the mulch

Yay, the daffodils are popping

Another poppy

It was as I was retracing those steps that I felt a temporary ache in my knee bone. Aha! So, it was real! I had hoped that it was just a dream and I wouldn’t have to worry about it happening again. Now, I’m mindful of it trying to understand why. Yesterday on my walk, I was up and down into ditches, over hills and then up our own berm a few times, plus on my knees working in the garden patch. Could be that is all it was but still, an indication that these bones aren’t as young anymore as they used to be.

The evening primrose are the dark patches
here on the corral hill
I'm still trying to prevent grass from growing

When Bill returned, he said he was able to wash B.B. a bit as Gerry had some soap in the shed. We chatted about his work in the cargo trailer and discussed paint colours. I decided this would be a good time to get the evening primrose planted before the rains over the coming week start. Before doing that, I called Patrick and it was great to talk to my son and catch up on what is going on in his world. Won’t it be nice when the Corona virus is not the hog of our conversations? I enjoyed that 30-minute chat very much and I walked down to tell Bill.

I was pretty much out of the wind here for a couple of hours

That was when his oldest daughter called and we chatted to her for a nice 20 minutes or so. It is great that now they are calling us too. 😊 Back inside, I made our bacon and eggs and then after dishes Bill went out again. I wrote some of this post and then joined him outside. He had gone down the lane to clean up the entrance gate to the front field. It has been out of commission with rusted barbed wire and damaged cedar rails.

The bunky puzzle

I walked down to see what he was up to and helped carry some of the rail pieces back for him to burn at the Hangar fire pit. I put on my work gloves and got my shovel (which ended up being too big for the job) and my hand prong rake, all ready to dig in the dirt. The winds had picked up so I had to put on a double layer, hoody and wind breaker and then I felt quite comfortable. There were about 7 or 8 little primrose plants in the bag and I found well-spaced plots for each one. I had to work around the plants that I planted last fall. On full sunny days, things should grow very well!

I put the rocks and paints away for the day

I decided that was enough work for the day. We have to pace ourselves; you know. I told Bill that I was going to paint rocks. I’m not sure what he thinks of my hobby but he at least knows that I am happy, having fun and staying out of his hair. Ha ha, just kidding – yet, not. The winds weren’t exactly cold, and it was a warm enough day at 13C/56F but the gusts made it feel cooler. The sun would poke a ray out once in a while but not enough to make a significant difference.

Despite the winds, I moved the patio table over to the south (front) of the Bunky and set up my paints and rocks. I turned the radio on inside and left the door open in case I needed to move inside because of rain. I puttered away for a couple of hours and when it got too cool and gusty, I put things in on the futon and worked on the puzzle in there for 15 or 20 minutes. Bill came up and indicated that he was moving inside the Suite so I joined him soon after. It was 3:00, tea time!

Supper was good

Right to the delicious end

In our chairs, 'someone' slept beside me so I wasn’t the only one who didn’t sleep well. I’ll wait and probably fall asleep in my chair after supper or at the very least have a great sleep tonight. I hope. I read quite a few chapters in my book and I’m enjoying Memory Man very much.

I went up on the hill to take a peek at the pond
from that angle to try and find the hidden Mama Goose on her nest

This is the most logical spot but I can't see her in here

But beside that clump, another turtle sunning

At 5:30, I started frying 2 pollock loins on one burner on the stove and hash browns on another. With mixed vegetables in the microwave, it was a very filling meal without being too much. We finished the last two pieces of carrot cake that I warmed up in the oven as well.

Our muskrat scoots across my camera's eye
sorry for the blur, he moves quick!

Papa Goose sleeps and doesn't know I'm watching

After dishes, we sat and watched the CTV news, weather and then the 90-minute special Stronger Together put on by Canadian celebrities in support of Food Banks Canada during the pandemic. We are enjoying it very much.

Another very cool tree
This one is almost completely hollow

From up in the southeast corner (where the sun rises) here
is a different view of our site

This was a great day and it is quite a lovely evening. At 7:30 we are experiencing a warm 10C/53F and a beautiful sun pushed the clouds out of the way so it could make a proud descent.